Mass Effect- The Recruit
by ManInABeanie
Summary: This is an intro to the events of Mass Effect 2. Thanose, a Drell seeking revenge gets an offer to join Cerberus but gives a counter offer to hire on a different recruit.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N-I had to write this for an English assignment and if I find the motivation, it leads into the true recruitment and story of Mass Effect 2.**

 **PS-I haven't been writing as much and focused more on youtube. If you enjoy random moments in random video games, then you'll enjoy me.**

channel/UCZtjwzaftarNhNgxQvUOc1Q

"Thanose Credas. Council Spectre for three months. First Drell I believe. Ugly one too, green reptilian skin." The man that sat across the Drell stopped him from talking. "Yes I know, all Drell are like that but you're still extremely revolting. But that black armor is not going to help in this terrain." He stopped the Drell again. "I know, my yellow bright as the sun armor doesn't help either but I know I'll survive." He looked up from the data pad in his hands. "Why are you even doing this?"

The Drell pulled off a giant white sniper off the cruiser's wall and cocked it. "Well Zaeed Massani, I'll tell you why. I was a Spectre for only three months because of that Asari, blue tentacle head Spectre."

"Listen boy, you're mad and I get that. I had a friend that turned his back on me and attempted on my life. But once I cooled down through my rage, I realized that if I attempted on him it would change nothing. Over a hundred lives were lost because I wanted to kill him."

"I have four more months left to live because of her.I don't care if nothing happens after this. Either way I die and I have the choice to bring her down with me."

The data pad that Zaeed held began to go off with a beep that never stopped. The two didn't look down at it. All Thanose could do was look at Zaeed's deformed face. Half of his face was ruined with scars and burns. One giant scar ran down his eye that caused it to be a milky white. The other one was still green.

"Revenge. Remember what you're goingyourself into." Zaeed turned to the screen.

Thanose could barely see a orange dot trail across the screen. "Well I'll be damned."

"What's the problem now?"

"This cruiser's stealth system is worse than Black Market guns. The Asari Commando Squad has a set of anti-aircraft missiles straight at us."

Four large impacts hit the cruiser's door and blasted it off its hinges. Everyone in the ship grasped for air, The two desperately crawled around the cruiser for an air mask. They knew time was their enemy and they could hold their breath for only so long. The cruiser hurled down to the surface and continued to increase saw Zaeed strap on his and toss the other to him. He scurried to put the mask on his head before they crashed hard into the solid ground. Thanose's vision was a giant blur, and all that rang through his head was a long and loud siren. He pushed aside a large chunk of the cruiser and crawled out of the fiery wreckage. Thanose called out for Zaeed but got no response in return.A large groanbroke everything that blocked his senses. He turned to the voice and saw Zaeed pinned down at the front of the cruiser. With all of his strength, Thanose lifted up the front of the cruiser. Zaeed managed to roll out with the cracked data pad in his hand.

"So glad I didn't die on a Luna look alike planet." Zaeed laughed. "Also the Asari are on their way.

"How? We are basically down in a giant crater. I don't know about you but I can't climb 500 feet straight up."

"I don't know if you notice, there is a trail straight ahead that slowly increases up out of this crater. Just get into a safe position."

Thanose proned behind the cruiser with his sniper rifle aimed down range. Through the scope he could see a MAKO truck speed down the trail with a mile long smoke trail that never ended. He sent several rounded into the body but ricocheted off without so much of a scratch. He sent another round into glass and did the same effect.

"Simple thermal rounds won't do the trick without an army. Your only hope is to use your biotics." Zaeed radioed.

Thanose got back up on his feet and focused on his body. A blue aura surrounded his body. He built up a energy that could only be resembled as the Force. The MAKO was right in front of him. He sent all the force he built up and launched a shockwave of energy at the MAKO's wheels. The front wheels of the truck stopped and flipped it over into a barrel roll. The truck rolled brutally to the crater side. The MAKO was flipped upside down with smoke that ran out of the body. Thanose pulled out his pistol and crept to the smokey wreck.

"Zaeed." Thanose radioed.

He didn't take the silence as a surprise. He continued over to the wreck with one hand extended and the other with a gun in it. He grabbed onto the MAKO's side door and pulled it open. A blue woman with tentacles for hair jumped out at him. She pinned him to the ground and battled to pull out a knife from her boot. His gun was quickly knocked out from his hand. He struggled to keep the knife away from his face. His desperation caused him to throw his hand through the knife and twist it out of her grip. He pushed the girl off of him and scrambled up to his feet. The Asari pulled out a gun. In an instant the girl's eye was replaced with a hole with blood that oozed out.

"You're welcome." Zaeed's voice echoed through Thanose's head.

Thanose felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around to see the arm come straight out of the wall. Zaeed's body made its way out from the wall. He shook off the ash on his body and stepped in front of Thanose. Thanose watched Zaeed's eyes go wide and spun him around, In that time Zaeed grabbed ahold of Thanose's pistol and fired it. He could hear the round connect with flesh then in the next second the sound of a small clunk hit the ground. He peaked over Zaeed's should, he saw another Asari dead on the ground.

"Half mile down the trail is two more dots." Zaeed pushed him ahead.

In a blank daze Thanose ran to the didn't even know if he ran the right way, all he could think about was the Asari. All the Asari had a strong resemblence with each other but little marks or structures broke them apart. Thanose's only problem was to worry if he would recognize her once he saw her, he didn't even know if she was one of the two that were dead was her. The Asari were all monogendered but had the physique of a human it wouldn't be easy to point out one and other by body. As he thought this to himself, the vision of her was ever so close to him.

"Are you here to kill me?" The voice rang through his head and cleared his mind.

He was in front of a ruined excuse of a base. Pots and pans were scattered across, the tents were doused with tares and stains. Even the Asari that sat in the poor stature of a fire looked discolored and thin. He walked to the Asair, She sat in front of a gun rack with rusted out firearms. The meat she looked old and blue armor was splattered with old blood. His mind could only focus on the insignia of the Spectre's that was planted on her left breast plate. In his eyes, the insignia glowed.

"Why do you disturb one of my home world's moons? Only Asari roam my people's territory." she asked again.

"Do you not recognize me? You're the one that sacraficed me into the radio active fields on that colony during my Spectre evaluation."

"Are you really that greedy? Not like your kind to be affected by that disease. Without me tossing you in nobody would've stopped the spread and would be able to save that colony."

"You tossed me a 50 foot hole without any idea if I would survive, and even if I did the toxins would kill me. Besides, it was the human's fault and caused the nuclear mess. They didn't even want to hurt the Salarian's next to them. They wished to defend themselves."

"A Spectre's job is to help those even if they are the reason for the problem. And don't believe some sob story but a couple of scarred survivors."

"Thank the Maker I'm no Spectre." He reached down for his pistol that wasn't there.

"Thanose behind you!" Zaeed yelled.

Thanose couldn't react in time, a small burst of rounded entered his back. As he dropped helplessly to the ground he could see the reflection of the Asari that shot him. Another series of rounds went off. He could still see the Asari and watched her drop to the ground. Ash covered his face along with a large explosion. Through a small hole in the smoke he saw a small pod blast off the surface. Zaeed pulled his body up from the ground.

"Don't let this escape control your life like it did mine. Trust me, it's not with it."

"I will find her again. I don't care if it takes my entire life. I will kill her."


	2. Chapter 2

The two was forced to wait on the empty planet for their second cruiser. Their objective at this moment was to keep Thanose alive. Zaeed pulled off Thanose's upper armor and wrapped around shreds of the tents around camp. Blood still seeped through the fabric but not in an alarmed rate. For Thanose, Zaeed's clear words turned into a dull blur. His mind trailed off to the day that would lead to his path.

In Thanose's case he was a protege to the council. He was the key to restore power in his race. The Council never saw the Drell as a power that deserved to be part of the most powerful team. Humans recently earned their place as Spectres and they out number Drell 10-1. While Humans were knew to galactic space, they had large numbers and were a force to be controlled. Drell on the other hand almost faced extinction after the destruction of their homeworld. The only reason they live today is because of a race of deformed and pink jellyfish called Hanar. Haar don't see themselves as themselves, and think their minds are speakers of their body. They speak of words like "This one thinks" or "This body". The Hanar saved the Drell race and brought them to their home planet. Thanks to the Hanar, the Drell can live again and slowly rebuild their former power. They were given that chance with a Spectre position, but he had to be evaluated by the most ignorant Spectre on the force. The Asari believed that her race overpowered every other with their intelligence, biotic ability, their army, and had the most advanced civilization in today's time. His first evaluation was the perfect time for her to get rid of a "lower presence". They traveled to a remote human colony to disarm a fleet of nuclear missiles. She would throw Thanose in a radiation pit to reach the controls to stop the missiles from their launch. He was able to disarm the launch controls with mere hopes of his life. When he did manage to escape the radioactive hole he learned a third of the colony's population was gone and arrested. The ones that remained told the truth of their missile presence. They gained knowledge of an imminent attack that would leave the colony empty. But now the missiles would never launch, nobody would dare to go down the pit or would have the skill to restart the missiles. And Thanose knew he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He was already alerted that the Council reported him killed in action and all of his records destroyed. If he did return to Citadel space and got caught, he would be considered a deserter and spend the rest of his life locked up.

"Thanose." Thanose felt a hard slap drag across his face. "Thanose answer the man!" Zaeed twisted Thanose's face to look at the man dressed in white.

"Where am I?" Thanose spoke in a daze.

Zaeed waved his hand at Thanose's eyes. "You have lost it. The cruiser grabbed us and in simple terms, he needs a sanity check before he can properly cut you open."

"Just do it."

That's the last time he saw Zaeed and traded his raids for a map. He started from phase one again and searched to galaxy for the Asari. He watched his health deteriorate away while his hunt began to slip away. The few contacts he still had gave him a piece of the hope that he thought was entirely gone. He learned of her public address on the Citadel at the same place he was indoctrinated into the Spectres. He slipped through the Citadel's security and bypassed his way through to the Citadel Tower where the meeting was held for the public. He slowly pushed through the large crowd of people to the front. He hid behind a row of people but kept his attention on the lies the Asari spoke. He never broke eye contact as he attached the minimum pieces of a hand crafted gun. He slid in a single round down the barrel and cocked it back. Time slowed for Thanose, as he pushed past the last man he could see security and the Asari all turn to him. Their arms leisurely reach for their guns and run to him. His own body was slow, his arm gradually went up. He could see the explosive bang that went off and the bullet that sped off. His eyes followed along the bullet that went toward the Asari. He could also see her aura build up around the bullet. But the instant it connected with her nose, time went normal. The screams finally kicked in and the hults of soldiers echoed. He felt bullets and tasers enter his body. The only thing he regretted at that moment was that he wasn't dead on the floor with the Asari. He was allowed life to live behind a cell. He only had a few months to live, but it wouldn't be worth to breathe. He was locked deep in isolation. Given no chance to use his biotics and no chance of life. He carved tallies into the wall with his fingers, by day fifteen all his fingertips were slashed up and callused.

"You have a visitor." a man through the intercom spoke.

"I thought I wasn't permitted for those!" Thanose yelled.

Thanose turned to the nearly clear electric field and saw a woman with black hair in a tight white hexagon catsuit. She stood outside the field with her arms crossed and leaned on her back foot.

"Sorry I can't lean on the field to make myself look cool or something." Thanose smirked.

"I know of your situation and I offer help. The people I represent has an experimental drug that can help you. We can even get you out of this place. You only have to sign a few papers for us." She said.

"I got at most fifteen days and I'm not up for anything like that. I see the emblem on your chest. You're Cerberus. I know of your mission with that weird monsters, I visited the colony you tried to help them but yeah we interrupted. I did what I wanted to do, I got my revenge. But I know a man who can easily take my place. The only problem is he has a thing for Geth."

"What thing?"

"He takes the parts and tries to rebuild them. He only has one that works but offer him something with that and… well he's your man."

"Are you sure? You can live a full life without a problem."

"Yeah. Good luck with him."


End file.
